Overcoming foul trouble and adversity early on to make it a game, the Carrollton Hawks just couldn’t get over the hump. They lost to the Petersburg Porta Blue Jays 52-49 in the championship game of the Winchester Tournament on Saturday night.
“I thought we played our best game of the tournament,” Carrollton head coach Jeff Krumwiede said. “There was a point there where we could have easily been blown out and we turned it into a good ball game.”
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Luke Gillingham went off for 29 points and drained eight three-pointers for the Hawks in a losing effort. Porta was led Matt and Max Mueller with 14 points each.
“It literally is a different guy almost every night,” Krumwiede said. The most consistent one has been Gillingham.”
The Hawks got into foul trouble early on and were down 7-0, but battled back and were losing 14-9 after the first quarter. The Blue Jays then controlled the majority of the second quarter. They jumped out to a 28-15 lead with three minutes left until halftime and threatened to tear the Hawks apart.
“I thought it was going to be a blowout,” Krumwiede said.
Carrollton proceeded to go on a 12-1 run to close out the first half by getting several lay-ups in their transition game. Jacob Smith capped off the run by sinking a mid-range shot at the buzzer to pull the Hawks to within two at halftime, 29-27.
“I credited them at halftime for being scrappy,” Krumwiede said.
The Hawks didn’t stop there. They came out hitting on all cylinders with Gillingham nailing two straight three-pointers, all part of an 8-0 run within the first 1:44 in the third quarter. Carrollton had turned the tables and threatened to break the game open.
This time Porta had other ideas. They quickly got back up and scored six unanswered points, but the Hawks regrouped and got another six point lead courtesy of two more consecutive treys from Gillingham.
Once again the Blue Jays cut into the lead, but the Hawks were still on top 46-44 going into the fourth quarter. That is when the scoring and the flow of the game slowed down. Porta went on a 6-0 run over the course of the first five minutes, while the Hawks struggled on offense.
“He [Gillingham] was so hot, but we had five possessions in a row where he didn’t touch the ball. That was the killer,” Krumwiede said.
With 36.6 seconds to play and up by three, Porta missed the front end of a one and one, which gave Carrollton their chance to either tie or cut the deficit to one point. The Hawks went to work, but nothing happened for 26 seconds, and with 5.5 left to play Krumwiede called timeout.
“Everybody in the gym knew who we were trying to get it to,” Krumwiede said. “I didn’t want it to go down to one possession. I was hoping that we would get some kind of a shot in the thirty-twenty second range and I let them go.”
The Hawks inbounded to Luke Palan and his pass was deflected out of bounds by Porta with 2.0 seconds to go. Gillingham was smothered by the Blue Jays, so Palan received the inbounds pass in the corner, but Max Mueller blocked his shot as the game ended, to the relief of the Porta faithful.
“We played with a really good team tonight and had them a little nervous for awhile,” Krumwiede said. “They’re just so dangerous.”
Carrollton (13-3) will play at North Greene (8-5) on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. The Hawks defeated the Spartans 66-46 last Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
“We can still improve. “Krumwiede said. “I think we will get better than we are now. We’re probably not going to see a Porta type of a 2A top 10 team again.
When the Carrollton Hawks are in foul trouble against a tough opponent, it is a nightmare for head coach Jeff Krumwiede. One player who wasn’t in foul trouble Friday night was Cody Leonard, and he picked a good time to have the best game of his career.
“I was just crashing the boards and got a lot of put-backs. I guess things just happened to fall my way tonight,” Leonard said.
He finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds, both career highs, to propel Carrollton to a 60-51 victory over the Griggsville-Perry Tornadoes on Friday night in the semifinals of the Winchester Tournament. This was the third time these two teams have hooked up this season, with the Hawks winning twice.
“Cody had a great practice yesterday. “Krumwiede said. “There was a little bit more focus and a little bit more fire in the eye, and he was working hard.”
Carrollton’s Luke Palan poured in 15 points despite battling early foul trouble. Luke Gillingham followed up with 9. Jordan DeHart led the Tornadoes with 13 points. Kaleb Bradshaw and Joe Myers had 10 apiece.
Carrollton got out to a 13-8 lead, but lost momentum when Palan picked up his second foul with 2:55 left in the first quarter. The Tornadoes took advantage of his absence and went on an 8-0 run. Krumwiede than sent Palan back in to try and stop the bleeding.
“I had to start playing him [Palan] because we struggle without him,” Krumwiede said.
Hawks move to finals with win over Griggsville-Perry on Friday
When the Carrollton Hawks are in foul trouble against a tough opponent, it is a nightmare for head coach Jeff Krumwiede. One player who wasn’t in foul trouble Friday night was Cody Leonard, and he picked a good time to have the best game of his career.
“I was just crashing the boards and got a lot of put-backs. I guess things just happened to fall my way tonight,” Leonard said on Friday night.
He finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds, both career highs, to propel Carrollton to a 60-51 victory over the Griggsville-Perry Tornadoes on Friday night in the semifinals of the Winchester Tournament. This was the third time these two teams have hooked up this season, with the Hawks winning twice.
“Cody had a great practice yesterday. “Krumwiede said. “There was a little bit more focus and a little bit more fire in the eye, and he was working hard.”
Carrollton’s Luke Palan poured in 15 points despite battling early foul trouble. Luke Gillingham followed up with 9. Jordan DeHart led the Tornadoes with 13 points. Kaleb Bradshaw and Joe Myers had 10 apiece.
Carrollton got out to a 13-8 lead, but lost momentum when Palan picked up his second foul with 2:55 left in the first quarter. The Tornadoes took advantage of his absence and went on an 8-0 run. Krumwiede than sent Palan back in to try and stop the bleeding.
“I had to start playing him [Palan] because we struggle without him,” Krumwiede said.
Despite having seven fouls, the Hawks were right with Griggsville at the end of quarter, down only 16-15.
The score was tied at 26 at halftime. The Hawks came out with more energy in the third quarter and quickly got out in front, but missed a handful of close range shots and free throws. Carrollton took a slim 38-35 into the final frame, but they already had seven fouls to the Tornadoes one for the second half.
At the 4:00 mark of the fourth quarter, Palan was on a knife’s edge when he picked up his fourth foul and Griggsville led 48-45. It was tense from there on out with several lead changes.
With 1:20 to go, the play of the game arrived. Leonard received a pass at the baseline, drove to the basket, made the shot, and got fouled. It was an and-one to put the Hawks up 52-48.
Carrollton, despite their early trouble of hitting free throws, sealed the game by calmly knocking them down.
“We hit a couple of shots, Leonard gets some huge rebounds, and we’re the ones shooting free throws down the stretch,” Krumwiede said. “That is exactly what I hoped for.”
OTHER SATURDAY GIRLS GAMES
Alton 53, Urbana 47
Alton defeated Urbana 53-47 in the Washington Tournament.
Lajarvia Brown paced Altn with 16 points.
"Our defense was pretty good, but we had a few letdowns in the second half," Bobby Rickman, the Alton coach, said. "Lajarvia had the ball more in the second half and we settled down."
Jersey 43, Marquette 30
Jersey defeated Marquette in a girls basketball game on Sautrday.
Bethany Muenstermann led Jersey with 11 points. Lia Roundcount and Lauren Davis each had nine points. Claire Snider had 10 points for Marquette; Andria Pace added nine points.
UPCOMING GAMES
HIGH SCHOOL
BOYS
JERSEY TOURNAMENT
Monday, Jan. 19
Quincy Notre Dame vs. Marquette, 4 p.m.
Collinsville vs. Jersey, 7
Monday, Jan. 18
WASHINGTON TOURNAMENT
Alton vs. East Peoria, 2
Washington vs. Alton, 5:30
LITCHFIELD TOURNAMENT
Monday, Jan. 19
Pana vs. Metro East Lutheran, 4
EA-WR vs. Roxana, 5:30
CARBONDALE TOURNAMENT
Monday, Jan. 19
Edwardsville vs. Marion, 2:30
GIRLS
WASHINGTON TOURNAMENT
Monday, Jan. 19
Alton vs. East Peoria, 12:30
Washington vs. Alton, 4
SALEM TOURNAMENT
Thursday, Jan. 22
Salem vs. Edwardsville, 8
HIGH SCHOOL SCORES
BOYS
SATURDAY
JERSEY TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Jan. 17
Collinsville 49, Cahokia 42
Pittsfield 44, Marquette 35
Jersey 54, Quincy Notre Dame 51
WASHINGTON TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Jan. 17
Grayslake North 62, East Peoria 49
Alton 51, Mahomet-Seymour 47
Washington 55, Mahomet-Seymour 41
Alton 63, Grayslake North 57
Litchfield Tournament
Saturday, Jan. 17
Litchfield 74, Lebanon 52
Taylorville 93, EA-WR 51
Greenville 63, Pana 36
CM 70, Hillsboro 28
Macoupin County Tournament
Saturday, Jan. 17
Gillespie 82, Mount Olive 38
Bunker Hill 67, Staunton 53
Southwestern 55, North Mac 41
Monday, Jan. 19
Gillespie vs. Bunker Hill, 6
Staunton vs. Mount Olive, 7:30
HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS
WASHINGTON TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Jan. 17
Grayslake North 42, East Peoria 35
Alton 53, Urbana 47
Grayslake North 42, Alton 31
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